A state lawmaker from Cincinnati is asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to send federal election monitors here to ensure all provisional ballots cast in the November election are counted.

State Rep. Alicia Reece (D-Bond Hill) sent the letter this week. She stated that concerns about how provisional ballots were treated in the 2010 race for Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge prompted the letter, adding no significant progress has been made in dealing with the issue since that time.

President Barack Obama announced trade action against
China while in Cincinnati yesterday. Obama said his team had filed a
lawsuit at the World Trade Organization on the claim China is
cheating in auto trade by offering “extensive subsidies” to its
automakers and auto-part producers. China fired back with its own
lawsuit for U.S. tariffs that raise the price on a variety of Chinese
products — from steels to tires. Anti-China rhetoric has fast become the
latest flavor of the month for the Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns, and
China is not happy with it.

But the presidential race raced back to gaffes over trade policy when Mother Jones
posted amazingly candid footage of Romney speaking to millionaires at a
fundraiser. In the videos, Romney straightforwardly outlines campaign
strategy. In one video, Romney said he doesn’t care about getting the
vote of the 47 percent of Americans that don’t pay taxes because he
doesn’t believe he can convince them to “take personal responsibility
and care for their lives.” The Obama team retaliated in a statement:
“It's shocking that a candidate for president of the United States would
go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that
half the American people view themselves as ‘victims,’ entitled to
handouts, and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their
lives. It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve
disdainfully written off half the nation.”

Ohioans love their local schools, a new survey shows. The
survey also found Ohioans trust their local school boards of education
with education-related decisions, but they really don’t trust the state
superintendent, governor or legislature.

Hamilton County courts want to go paperless. The move would save money and space and make the system more efficient.

County budget meetings are still chugging along. Different
department directors are still pleading for no cuts, but the
commissioners insist cuts have to be made somewhere.

Cincinnati police announced a new Taser policy. The new policy
disallows the use of frontal shots except in situations involving
self-defense and the defense of others, reinforces the fact officers
need to make sure such force is necessary and points out people have
been injured due to Taser use. The new policy was brought about due to
findings Taser use can kill in rare situations.

The streetcar’s yearlong delay got an explanation
yesterday. A few issues are to blame, including the city’s ongoing
conflict with Duke Energy over who has to pay for moving utility lines
to accommodate for the streetcar.

The amount of people on Ohio’s death row is shrinking.
After Donald Palmer’s execution, Ohio will drop to its lowest death row
population since July 1995.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted launched a mailing
campaign to clean up voter rolls. Using data from U.S. Postal Service
National Change of Address Registry, Husted mailed 70,000 former Ohioans
encouraging them to cancel their voter registration. The action is a
lot tamer than Republican-led efforts to purge voter rolls in other
states, which states like Florida, Iowa and Colorado have backed out of —
at least for now.

Subpoenas will be issued to more than 2,200 poll workers and others to solicit testimony about advice they gave to voters in Hamilton County precincts being investigated in a contested judicial race.

Local Democratic Party leaders said the issuance of subpoenas is “aridiculously expensive and time-consuming proposition” that could be done more quickly and cheaply through other methods, but that process is being blocked by their Republican counterparts.

A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio (ACLU) found Ohio's poor are regularly victimized by illegal practices in courts that jail the state's poor for failing to pay fines they can't afford. The problem particularly afflicts the state's rural counties, which sometimes openly admit to jailing people even when they can't afford to pay fines. The ACLU says courts need to be more transparent in communicating defendants' rights, provide retroactive credits to those wrongfully incarcerated based on circumstances of poverty and consistently hold hearings to assess defendants' financial viability and willfulness to pay fines.

The streetcar is being threatened by a $22.7 million budget gap, and Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, a Democrat who is running for mayor and has long supported the streetcar, is calling a meeting to get all the details on how the project got here and whether it's still economically viable. Qualls says it's too soon to jump to conclusions about the project's fate, and she says she would like to see the options and details laid out by City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. at the hearing. But Democratic mayoral candidate John Cranley, a longtime opponent of the streetcar, is already using the news to call for the project's demise. The streetcar is one of few issues dividing the Democratic candidates in the mayoral race, which the latest poll has Qualls leading by 14 points.

The Ohio House is expected to vote on a budget
today that would defund Planned Parenthood, ban comprehensive sex
education and fund crisis pregnancy centers that promote
abstinence-only, anti-abortion education. This week, the budget has been
regularly mocked by Democrats for potentially opening teachers to lawsuits if
they explain condoms, other forms of birth control and other basic sex facts to students in a
way that could lead to "gateway sexual activity."

The Ohio House budget bill also fails to expand Medicaid — a failing that Moody's is warning could put hospitals at risk for budgetary shortfalls. The report points out that hospitals were supposed to get more patients through a Medicaid expansion, which would be funded almost entirely by the federal government through Obamacare, to make up for a reduction of federal reimbursements for uncompensated care. The Medicaid expansion would have insured 456,000 Ohioans and saved the state money, according to a report from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. CityBeat covered the Medicaid expansion in greater detail here.

For student voters, the Ohio House budget bill would also make it more difficult to vote by forcing public universities to withhold essential documents that can be used as voter identification. The rule would make it so universities have to declare students in-state for tuition purposes when issuing them a letter or utility bill to vote, effectively costing universities extra revenue from out-of-state students if they choose to issue the documents. Democratic State Rep. Kathleen Clyde says the move will likely make it so universities never hand over the documents.

As the city wrestles with laying off cops and firefighters to balance the budget, Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig is considering a potential job offer in Detroit "very carefully." Craig interviewed for the top cop position in Detroit last week. "I'm humbled they would consider me a top candidate," Craig told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

A new poll found Republican Gov. John Kasich in "reasonably good shape" for re-election, beating potential challenger Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald 46-37.

Even though a majority of 54 voted in favor and only 46 voted against it, the background checks bill for gun buyers failed in the U.S. Senate yesterday, failing to overcome what was essentially a filibuster. Ohio's senators were split on the issue, with Sen. Rob Portman voting against the bill and Sen. Sherrod Brown voting in favor. Universal background checks are supported by more than 90 percent of Americans, according to a poll from The New York Times and CBS.

Next showdown will happen at federal appeals court in Cincinnati

A federal judge today ruled Kentucky’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. But same-sex couples in the state can’t get marriage licenses just yet.

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled that a 2004 amendment to Kentucky's state constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage violates the guarantee of equal protection under the law found in the U.S. constitution.

It's another sign that the tide may be turning in the region. The decision comes as a similar ban looks to be in serious legal trouble in Indiana, and just before an August federal court date that will decide
questions surrounding the issue in Ohio and other states. Since February last year, federal courts have upheld the right to marry for same-sex couples 19 times.

The decision came in response to a challenge to Kentucky’s ban by two same-sex couples. Maurice Blanchard and Dominique James were denied a marriage license on Jan. 2013. They were charged with trespassing after refusing to leave the Jefferson County Clerk’s office after being turned down for their license. A jury eventually found them guilty, though the two were fined only $1. The two other plaintiffs in the case, Timothy Love and Lawrence Ysunza, applied for a license in February 2013. The two have lived together for 34 years.

The plaintiffs and other same-sex couples looking to marry will have to wait a little longer, though. Heyburn has delayed implementation of his decision until after Aug. 6, when a higher court, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, will hear several gay marriage cases from Kentucky, Ohio and two other states. Those cases will be heard in Cincinnati.

Heyburn, who in February also ruled that the state must recognize
same-sex marriages from other states, rejected Kentucky’s reasons for
its ban. Lawyers hired by the Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear argued that traditional marriage helps ensure economic stability and a favorable birth rate in the state. The state’s Attorney General Jack Conway refused to defend the law on behalf of the state.

“These arguments are not those of serious people,” Heyburn said in his decision. He said there is “no conceivable, legitimate purpose” for the ban, which keeps same-sex couples in the state from enjoying the economic, social and emotional benefits of marriage. These include tax benefits, the ability to share insurance, the ability to adopt children as a couple and other rights.

The ruling continues a wave of recent decisions by federal courts upholding marriage rights for same-sex couples. But there’s still uncertainty even as the tide shifts. Most recently, on June 25, a judge struck down Indiana’s ban, allowing same-sex couples to immediately apply for marriage licenses. That decision was overturned a few days later on appeal, and couples who married in the three-day window are now waiting for a final decision to see if their marriages are valid in the state’s eyes. Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage.

Decision also keeps city’s emergency powers intact

The Ohio Supreme Court today rejected an appeal for a legal challenge
that threatened Cincinnati’s parking plan and the city’s emergency
powers.

The lawsuit, which was backed by the conservative
Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), claimed the
city could not bypass a referendum on its plans to lease its parking
meters, lots and garages to the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority by
invoking an emergency clause.

City Council regularly uses emergency clauses on passed
legislation to bypass a 30-day waiting period for implementing laws. The clauses also
make legislation immune to a referendum.

COAST, which opposes the city’s parking lease, argued the
City Charter doesn’t clearly define emergency clauses to deny a
referendum.

Hamilton County Judge Robert Winkler sided with COAST in
the first round, but the ruling was appealed and the Hamilton County
Court of Appeals ultimately ruled in favor of the city.

With the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal, the appeal court’s ruling stands.

City Solicitor John Curp applauded the decision in an email to various media outlets.

“I believe that politics belong in the legislative branch
of government and not in our courts. This decision reaffirms that
politics should stay on the Council floor and short-term political
interests not be dragged through the judiciary where the consequences
can have a long-standing impact on the public safety and economic
interests of the City,” Curp wrote. “Consistency in interpreting
long-standing legal rules is important in promoting a vibrant business
climate in the City. The Courts have reaffirmed that the City of
Cincinnati is free to operate at the speed of business.”

COAST is now trying another legal challenge against the
city’s parking lease. This time, the conservative group is claiming that
the city manager made “significant and material” changes to the lease
without City Council approval.

Curp declined to take up the second legal challenge
after concluding that the changes made to the lease were ministerial and a
result of delays caused by COAST’s first legal challenge. But by having
its proposed challenge denied, COAST gained the legal rights to sue the
city over the issue.

Supporters of the parking lease argue the plan is necessary to
leverage the city’s parking meters, lots and garages to finance
development projects that will grow the city’s tax base.

Opponents claim the lease gives up too much control over
the city’s parking assets and will hurt businesses by causing parking
rates and enforcement hours to rise.

CityBeat covered the controversy surrounding the parking lease in further detail here.

State fights for minor party restrictions, local judge disqualified, Oasis rail line draws critics

Ohio officials will appeal a court ruling that blocked
tougher requirements on minor political parties and allows them to run
in the 2014 primary and general elections under previous rules. The
Republican-controlled Ohio legislature and Gov. John Kasich approved the
stricter rules last year. Democrats and Libertarians argued the new
law, which they labeled the John Kasich Re-election Protection Act, was
put in place to protect Kasich from conservative electoral challengers
upset with his support for the federally funded Medicaid expansion.

The Ohio Supreme Court disqualified Hamilton County
Juvenile Judge Tracie Hunter Friday after she was indicted on eight
felony charges for, among other accusations, backdating and forging court
documents. The disqualification could further burden a court that’s
already known for a large backlog of cases. It remains unclear how long
Hunter’s case and disqualification will last and whether she’ll be
replaced while the legal battle unfolds.

Many streetcar supporters oppose the Oasis rail line and
the rest of the Eastern Corridor project. Critics of the project point
to a recent study that found the Oasis line would generate
low economic development in seven of 10 planned stations. Instead of
supporting the Oasis line, Cincinnatians for Progress says local
officials should work to first establish a transit line — perhaps
through a piece-by-piece approach of the defunct MetroMoves plan that
voters rejected in 2002 — that could act as a central spine for a
broader light rail network. Opposition to the Oasis line is also rooted
in a general movement against the Eastern Corridor project, which some say
would expand and rework roads and highways in a way that could damage and divide the East Side and eastern Hamilton County. Officials are taking
feedback for the Eastern Corridor and Oasis rail line at
EasternCorridor.org.

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, who might
challenge Democratic gubernatorial Ed FitzGerald in the May primary,
discussed the gubernatorial race in a nearly 40-minute interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer’s editorial board Friday. View the full interview here.

Ohio’s chief justice says it’s time to reform how judges
are elected. It remains unclear exactly how Chief Justice Maureen
O’Connor would reform the system, but she says she wants to uphold
courts’ attempts at impartiality.

Abortion restrictions follow trend, more tax issues in state election, Luken to run for judge

Ohio and various other states passed more abortion
restrictions between 2011 and 2013 than they did in the previous decade,
according to the Guttmacher Institute. The findings indicate that the
latest Republican-backed abortion restrictions, which were passed
through Ohio’s two-year state budget last June, were part of a broader
trend that’s culminated across the nation since the tea party rose to
national prominence in 2010. The trend could play a pivotal political
role: Ohio Democrats have made their opposition to the abortion
restrictions a central part of their campaigns to unseat Republican
incumbents who hold top executive offices in the state.

One of the candidates expected to join the tea party
ticket in a Republican primary challenge against Gov. John Kasich
appears to have personal tax problems. Brenda Mack, tea party leader Ted
Stevenot’s expected running mate, is linked to nearly $60,000 in unpaid
state and federal taxes and penalties, according to government records
in Mahoning and Cuyahoga counties analyzed by The Columbus Dispatch.
Mack refuses to comment on the tax problems until a Tuesday press
conference in which she and Stevenot are expected to officially announce
their candidacies for the May 6 primary.

Former Mayor Charlie Luken says he will run for Hamilton
County probate judge. The Democratic candidate will likely face off
against Republican Ted Winkler, a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court
judge. Luken recently garnered the public spotlight for his support for
Mayor John Cranley’s campaign.

Cincinnati’s homicide rate for victims younger than 18
rose to 1 in 7 in 2013 and 2012, up from 1 in 10 from 2000 through 2011,
according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. Four of the juvenile
victims were 1-year-old or younger, including a fetus who died after the
mother was strangled to death in April.

Four seats on the 19-member Ohio Board of Education remain
unfilled, including two seats that have been vacant for months, long
past the 30-day deadline Gov. Kasich has under state law to name a
replacement. Administration officials said they’re aware of the
deadline, but they intend to find the best fit for the position before
moving forward with an appointment. “It’s far more important to us to
find the right person than putting warm bodies on the board,” Kasich
spokesperson Rob Nichols told The Columbus Dispatch.

The latest administrative shakeups at City Hall spurred
controversy after the city administration confirmed City Solicitor John
Curp will leave his current position and one of the new hires — Bill
Moller, a city retiree who will become assistant city manager — will be
able to “double dip” on his pension and salary ($147,000 a year). Councilman
P.G. Sittenfeld said on Twitter that City Council will discuss the personnel changes at today’s council meeting. The hiring decisions are up to Interim City Manager
Scott Stiles, but some council members say they should be more closely
informed and involved. (This paragraph was updated after council members called off the special session.)

Hamilton County commissioners plan to vote on a resolution
today that attempts to compromise with City Council on controversial
contracting rules for Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) projects. Both
the Democrat-controlled city and Republican-controlled county agree the
issue needs to be resolved soon so MSD can get on with a $3.2 billion
sewer revamp mandated by the federal government. But it remains unclear
whether the county’s compromise, which adds some inclusion goals and
funding for training programs, will be enough for City Council. In
December, Democratic council members refused to do away with the city’s
contracting rules, which require MSD contractors to meet stricter job
training standards and programs.

Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Tracie Hunter was
indicted on a ninth felony charge yesterday. The charge — for misusing
her county credit card — comes on top of eight other felony counts for
allegedly backdating court documents and stealing from office. In
response to the first eight charges, the Ohio Supreme Court disqualified
Hunter as she fights the accusations and replaced her with a formerly retired judge, who will be
aided by the juvenile court’s permanent and visiting judges in
addressing Hunter’s expansive backlog of cases.

Facing state cuts to local funding, a Clermont County
village annexed its way to higher revenues. But the village has drawn
controversy for its tactics because it explicitly absorbed only public
property, which isn’t protected from annexation under state law like
private property is.

More Ohio inmates earned high school diplomas over the
past three years, putting the state ahead of the national average in
this area, according to a report from the Correctional Institution
Inspection Committee.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald on Friday announced his new running mate: Sharen Neuhardt, a Dayton-area business
attorney and twice-failed candidate for Congress. The choice boosts the
ticket’s credentials with women and abortion-rights advocates, but it
also reinforces support for pro-choice policies that upset many Republicans and
conservatives. FitzGerald originally picked State Sen. Eric Kearney as
his running mate, but Kearney dropped out of the race after multiple
media reports uncovered he owed more than $800,000 in tax debt. CityBeat covered the gubernatorial race and how the economy could play into it in further detail here.

Mayor John Cranley on Friday reiterated his opposition to double dipping, even though he supports hiring an assistant city
manager who will take advantage of the practice. Because Bill Moller is a
city retiree, he will be eligible to double dip — simultaneously take a
salary ($147,000 a year) and pension — when the city hires him in
February. Cranley called the practice “abusive” on the campaign trail,
but he says it’s up to City Council to pass legislation that prevents it.

Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Tracie Hunter on
Friday pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges, including accusations
of backdating court documents, theft in office and misusing her county
credit card. The Ohio Supreme Court on Jan. 10 replaced Hunter until her case is decided. The felony charges are just the latest for the judge, who has been mired in controversy
after controversy since before she won her election.

State Rep. Alicia Reece and other activists are pushing an initiative for the November ballot that would embed “voter rights”
into the Ohio Constitution. The Democrat-backed constitutional amendment is in direct
response to Republican-led attempts to shrink early voting periods and
restrict access to the ballot.

A propane gas shortage in some parts of the state led Gov.
John Kasich to suspend state and federal laws that keep propane
suppliers off the roads on weekends.

State Treasurer Josh Mandel’s failed Senate campaign sold
an SUV totaled in March — effectively averting an insurance review that
might have clarified the vehicle’s use and insurance status — shortly after
questions arose over the continued use of the vehicle months after
Mandel’s Senate campaign ended.

Secondhand smoke increases the odds of hospital
readmission for children with asthma, according to a study from
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Penn State Milton S.
Hershey Children’s Hospital.